Modern Side Tables, part one

The new (old) house needs new furniture. Meeting with our designer, I realized that some of the things we were planning to purchase (at great cost) were things that I could make for less. Moreover, I felt like my skills were finally to a point that I could build something equivalent but nicer than we could purchase from a company.

And so this pair of side tables was born.

The carcasses (bodies) of the tables will be painted a brown-black color. The drawers are my first attempt at using an NK style drawer method. This turned out to be an incredibly efficient way to build what is the smoothest operating drawer I’ve ever made. Below is a variant on the method I saw in an old Fine Woodworking article (Fine Woodworking 150). This is a Scandinavian method by which you fit the drawer by building the bottom first. If you zoom in you can see that only the little walnut runner interacts with the carcase. Unlike the method recommended by FWW, I attached the bottom to the drawer sides in a manner that let me use another piece of wood as an applied front.

The poor-man’s NK style drawer. Naturally, this is what happens to Swedish drawers in Alabama.

The applied front is a piece of curly red oak that I found years ago, but I hadn’t found the right moment until now… The drawer front is finished with danish oil and garnet shellac.

No drawer pull yet, and no feet, but one step closer…

These tables go next to the master bed. Instead of lamps, there are these large pendants over the tables. The drawer body obscures the switch location but leaves it accessible to the user(s).

Introductions…

Rich here. Trying out a new format and location for sharing my woodworking projects.

I’ve been woodworking casually for about 8 years. For the greater part of that time, I was working 27 days a month and had little time to spend in the shop, but still made time. A year and a half ago, I took a new and better job that gives me every other week off, though somehow I still wasn’t making meaningful use of my shop.

Six months ago circumstances (a house remodel) led me to seek out a new shop space.

Recent pic of the new shop-space.

Since then I’ve been inspired to spend more time in the shop and my productivity has soared. Hence the interest in sharing my work more frequently…

I think the main difference has been the fact that the new space is a shared workspace, and being around other woodworkers and various artists has been incredibly inspiring for me. I’ve never been more productive or more happy in my woodworking. Now as the remodel comes to a close, I plan to keep renting the shared space.

My main focus is on hand-tool woodworking, though I do make limited use of machines, depending on the project.

Thanks for visiting!